Plush toys have been provided in a virtually endless variety taking outer forms corresponding to dolls, toy figures, animal figures and fanciful characters. While their appearance has differed substantially as practitioners have endeavored to provide evermore interesting and entertaining plush toy figures and plush toys, all generally follow the characteristic of providing a padded soft outer body covered with a soft flexible fabric. In many plush toys, the outer fabric includes an outer simulated "fur" or other textural characteristic. The most typical and pervasive type of plush toy provides some sort of head and appendages with the head often defining various facial features such as mouth, nose, eyes, ears and the like.
In many plush toys, the padded outer body and flexible outer fabric is supported upon a relatively rigid interior skeleton-like structure. Often, the skeleton-like structure is articulated having movable joints which facilitate movement of appendages such as arms, legs and head. More sophisticated skeletal supports include mechanisms for facilitating movement of the mouth and other features. More recently, simple skeletons used for articulation and support of the plush outer body have been replaced by more complex motor driven battery-powered movement and action mechanisms. Accordingly, plush toys have provided figures which simulate various movement patterns such as walking, running, kicking and so on. Further improvements have included the provision of internal battery-powered sound producing apparatus which may either be cyclically operated or touch-responsive as pressure sensitive switches and the like are positioned about the plush body.
Thus, practitioners in the art have continuously endeavored to enhance the sophistication, amusement and appeal of plush toys by providing evermore interesting toys. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,820 issued to Nakayama sets forth a STUFFED VIBRATING SOUNDING SITTING TOY having a stuffed body supporting a main switch therein responsive to externally applied loads which controls a vibrator activated when the main switch is turned on to vibrate at least a portion of the stuffed toy. The toy further includes a sound generator producing a sound while the vibrator is active.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,357 issued to Monroe, et al. sets forth a JUMPING TOY configured to generally resemble a squatting frog and having a base member which supports a clockwork connected through a gear train to a movable shaft which in turn carries a spring-biased thrust rod. The movable shaft supports a gear which is maintained in engagement with a fixed gear rack. Activation of the clockwork urges the thrust rod against the bias of the spring and another gear carried by the movable shaft is cyclically engaged and disengaged by a sector gear and caused cyclical oscillation of the thrust rod. Sufficient force is developed against the support surface to cause the toy to jump upwardly from the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,326 issued to Ting sets forth a SHAKING TOY having a plush toy figure incorporating a motion generating apparatus activated by a sound sensing transducer. The motion generating apparatus shakes the figure causing a swinging action to be imparted thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,686 issued to Ikeda sets forth a TOY HAVING APPENDAGE CAPABLE OF MOVING IN TWO DIRECTIONS in which a pair of leg appendages are pivotally supported upon a body resembling a frog or the like and a spring drive is coupled to the pivotable appendages whereby energy is stored in the spring with the appendages in a cocked position and released to produce a jumping action as the legs pivot.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,538 issued to Glass, et al. sets forth an ELECTRICALLY POWERED AND SOUNDING TOY BIRD having a battery-powered movable skeleton supported within a bird-like body which is operative to perform predetermined traveling movements on a supporting surface and which is able to produce various sounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,775 issued to Kim sets forth a DANCING HULA DOLL which alternatively moves its hips left and right to give a likeness which compares to an actual hula dancer. The doll includes an upper portion, a lower portion and a base portion together with apparatus for moving each portion relative to the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,099 issued to Cancel sets forth a SINGING ELECTRONIC FROG providing a sound-producing toy in the shape of a frog including a stationary base and an upwardly pivotal body in which the body pivotal motion controls the circuit of a battery-powered sound system.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,425,429 issued to Hansen sets forth a FIGURE TOY and U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,869 issued to Collischan sets forth a TOY FIGURE, both of which are illustrative of early apparatus for producing movable animal-like toy figures.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have in various ways improved the toy art and in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore interesting, amusing, improved and inventive toy figures.